[StBernard] First Baptist Church of Chalmette to hold ground-breaking ceremony

[Westley Annis]

First Baptist Church of Chalmette to hold ground-breaking ceremony for new
church at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 305 East St. Bernard Highway

The Rev. John Dee Jeffries, pastor of First Baptist Church of Chalmette,
will lead a ground-breaking ceremony on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 2 p.m. to begin
construction of a new church facility at 305 East St. Bernard Highway.

Prominent Baptist officials and political leaders from the state and local
level will join Jeffries and First Baptist leaders as they dig into the dirt
to begin a new church.

Featured speakers include state Reps. Ken Odinet, D-Arabi, and Nita Rusich
Hutter, R-Chalmette; and St. Bernard Parish Council Chairman Joseph DiFatta
Jr. 
David Hankins, executive director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, and
the Rev. Mike Canady, state ministry coordinator for Louisiana Baptists,
will speak, along with Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans Director
Joe McKeever and disaster relief coordinator the Rev. Freddie Arnold. 

First Baptist Church of Chalmette, which has a membership of more than
2,500, sustained nearly $3.5 million in damage. 

Congregations across the country have donated money, labor and construction
materials to help finance the new place of worship, Jeffries said. The
largest volunteer Christian construction ministry, Builders For Christ, will
mobilize nearly 1,000 professional construction volunteers to work on the
Chalmette project. 

"Something unbelievable, something impossible, is happening at First
Baptist," Jeffries said, calling it "An unbelievable people doing the
impossible for the glory of God."